Op-Ed: Peter Mandelson, now Lord Mandelson, was a Labour spin doctor extraordinaire. A Blairite he helped Tony Blair to power in '97 but seems to be anything but a left-wing politician these days. Perhaps he never was but just ran with the party most likely to win. If that's the case maybe he should do the decent thing and hot-foot it over to the right of politics and join the Tories. If he stays put is he just another enemy within?

Sunday speaking on BBC radio Mandelson "blasted Labour for failing to have a strategy for decentralising power from London to northern England.” He "accused his party of having “language, not policies” for rebalancing the country’s economy and political system. And he said the lack of an alternative to Chancellor George Osborne’s northern powerhouse plan had been a “huge political mistake”."

But many northern voters including this one were not overly concerned about decentralisation and powerhouse plans.

They have more important and bigger fish to fry including the infamous Bedroom tax, pensions, a financial attack on the disabled, jobs, lack of affordable decent homes, rogue landlords and zero-hour contracts.

Why Mandelson seems to feel the need to keep attacking Labour from within is open to debate. Does he hope that Labour will return to Blairite policies? Is he protecting his own back and interests? Is he a publicity seeker pure and simple? In '97 the British electorate were sick to the back-teeth of Tory rule. Change was needed and a young Tony Blair's government was a breath of fresh air.

Blair's legacy is forever doomed following the Iraq War which he signed the UK up to with George W Bush. Not only was that war costly in people-power and money it was illegal and led to a power vacuum in Iraq and the current chaos in that country. One man stood out against the Iraq War predicting the chaotic outcome and that was Charles Kennedy, Liberal Democrat, who died this week.

By the 2010 General Election Mandelson's disloyalty to the party was plain to see. As Gordon Brown struggled for re-election too many images of Mandelson in the shadows like a dark lord sneering and pulling inappropriate faces helped defeat.

As Ed Miliband fought for election in 2015 Mandelson raised his head now and then but never offering positivity.

When the Mansion Tax was promoted he went on record to condemn it and most voters viewed that move as self-serving.

In January the Guardian reported "Peter Mandelson received £400,000 as a cash loan last year from a company he owns, in a move which could ease his tax burden, accounts filed recently at Companies House reveal [see footnote]. The company, of which he is the sole shareholder, gave the former secretary of state a loan for that amount in the financial year 2013/14 – a move described by a leading tax campaigner as likely to have been motivated by tax avoidance."

The footnote says "This article was amended on 30 January 2015. An earlier version described the loan as “tax-free”. To clarify: a payment representing 25% of the sum advanced to the director is payable to HMRC if the loan has not been repaid within nine months and a day of the company year end, but this is repayable if the loan is refunded by the director. This article was further amended on 18 February 2015 to clarify that Lord Mandelson’s speaking engagements were not for clients, that Goldman Sachs is not his client and that Asia Pulp and Paper has now given a commitment to protect forests."

The Guardian report and others shows that Mandelson is not a man of the people in any sense. Like Blair he was lucky to be in a prime position when the time was right.

Both would not be so lucky second time around.

Labour needs to elect a new leader and take its dirty laundry indoors rather than returning to the old days of public backstabbing which serves no purpose except to individuals with their own agenda.

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